1. Tuff Merom Golan
Tuff Merom Golan and Design Factory Shenkar have signed a research cooperation agreement to improve the performance of their detached bed grow bag products.
The grow bags are a mobile bed for agricultural plantings which solve the problem of coping with pathogens in the ground. The research, led by professors Shmuel Kenig and Ana Dotan, and Dr. Eyal Sheffer, includes testing textile products and chemical processes to optimize energy consumption and water savings, alongside environmental sustainability.
2. DFGN 2022
The 2022 annual Design Factory Global Network convention took place in Leeuwarden in the northern Netherlands, hosted by the local Stenden University.
The convention had two main aims: the first to advance academic-research collaborations between the two universities; and the second to advance innovative learning strategies in higher education. Participants were divided into brainstorming groups which included lecturers and researchers from 25 different universities worldwide.
3. Winning first prize at The Future of Design convention
Dr. Yigal David and Dr. Assaf Krebs — co-directors of the Design Factory, along with Alon Rosenbaum, project manager of the Design Factory, and fourth year School of Industrial Engineering & Management student, presented the paper: “Interdisciplinary Teamwork in the Design Thinking Double Diamond: A Case Study of the Shenkar Jamweek Makeathon” at the Future of Design convention at Stenden University in the Netherlands.
The article won the top prize as the article that most challenged the prevailing wisdom in the field, and will be published in a book that is set to come out following the convention.
4. SNC: Publication of research measuring the value of design in the Israeli tech industry
Led by ACT SHENKAR and in collaboration with Startup Nation Central, we published a study which attempts to measure the value of design within the Israeli tech industry.
During the course of the research, three different tech segments were studied: Israeli startups, large established Israeli companies and global corporations with development centers in Israel. In addition to distributing hundreds of questionnaires tailored to each segment within the quantitative research, we also held 23 in-depth interviews with key personnel, establishing the qualitative research portion of the study. The results were very much in keeping with our research hypotheses — there is no doubt as to the contribution of design to the Israeli tech industry.
